Signs of Life

Steven Curtis Chapman

Sparrow
CD, SPD 1554, $16.98
Cassette, SPC 1554, $10.98

DIFFERENT!

Review by Bill Hobbs

In a word, that describes Signs of Life, the long-awaited new album from Steven Curtis Chapman. It's been two years since SCC's last studio album, Heaven in the Real World, was released and, coming on the heels of his smash The Great Adventure, solidified Chapman's place at the forefront of contemporary Christian music.

Chapman, concerned that he had begun to repeat himself musically, took a break from the studio to consider his next musical move and to spend time just being his family's father and husband. When he returned to the studio, Chapman aimed for a more varied sound to carry this new collection of his thoughtful, thought-provoking lyrics, and he got it.

Signs of Life features straight-ahead rock as well as folk-based tunes, Bonnie Raitt-ish bluesy rock, and a couple of gorgeous ballads. The album's first track, "Lord of the Dance," introduces Chapman's new musical range, starting as it does with a jangly Dobro guitar and building to a finish with pounding bass, drums, electric guitars, and fiddles. Then there is the bluesy "The Walk," the almost alternative pop sound of "Let Us Pray," which along with "Land of Opportunity" sounds like this album's surefire hit.

Chapman, who promotes Charles Colson's Prison Fellowship Ministries, has also included a touching inside-the-walls story, titled simply "Free." Another ballad, "Celebrate You," is gorgeous, atmospheric pop that blurs its meaning just enough to let it be sung to one's lover, Lord, or both, while "What Would I Say" tells the tear-tugging true story about his grandparents.

Not all of Chapman's experiments here work. The title track bizarrely poses him as a space alien checking out earth. Overall, though, Signs of Life is an adventurous, welcome take on SCC's trademark sound.

Bill Hobbs is a reviewer for Christian music publications. He lives in Nashville, TN.

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